Brahms - Handel Variations [Tanyel]
It was years ago i owned this disc as a cassette tape, and it was as this cassette that i first got to know these two works, and of course i fell in love with Piano variations through this, well it's only been recently that i've acquired this on disc at last, and it certainly takes me back to those wonderful days when these works were new to me, Tanyel has a certain way which i love, and it wasn't merely that the works themselves were great, the Beethoven work i haven't actually heard for quite a while, surprising really as it's so good, the Brahms work i hear quite often [as my Blog can testify], if you look at the back insert you can see that each of the variations aren't cued separately, this can be somewhat annoying, but i wrote down the timings and therefore i can know what variation i'm on, all told this is a lovely set to renew my acquaintance with, and a logical but strangely rare coupling.
Seta Tanyel is Armenian / Turkish, not sure her age, and this was recorded in 1989, the front cover picture is very nice, with Tanyel sitting at the piano, nicely lighted with a dark background.
A tremendous number of these variations really excited me, and i guess this is one of the points of variations [and not just for variety!], but that each variation will give a different angle to the theme, so a couple of dozen different viewpoints actually causes us to get deeper into the essence of the theme, rather like 25 people all giving their personal experience about a person, you really get to know what they're like, plus each variation takes you on a journey, and each subsequent variation adds / substantiates that journey, they build on each other, rather like a relay race where each runner passes the baton to the next, the Variations i liked the best were 8, 11-12, 14-15, 18-19, 21-23 & 25, they seem to come in clumps, certain variations prepare you for the next, so for instance variation 15 has as an 'intro' variation 14, the same can apply to 'outro' also, two variations side by side can be greater than the sum of their parts, here's a short synopsis of each variation,
Variation 8 [7:52] - A fairly complex Variation, almost like a Fugue, nicely sped up compared to the previous variation, a fairly frantic 39 seconds.
Variation 11 [10:39] - I love these more gentle variations, where lovely ringing sounds permeate the air, the second half of the variation has the left hand taking over the melody.
Variation 12 [11:47] - And straight afterwards a complementary variation that builds on the last, nice treble / legato work from Tanyel in the right hand.
Variation 14 [14:48] - A real scamper of a variation, playfully squealing away, the treble work is nicely executed.
Variation 15 [15:27] - A more serious and hard hitting variation, with some hard exclamation points throughout in the bass, and then in the second half those exclamations continue high in the right hand.
Variation 18 [17:32] - Another gentle and slower variations, sweetly and casually done, superb treble notes, like stars twinkling in the sky, i like the way Tanyel gradually slows it down at the end, giving it more of a tease / gravitas.
Variation 19 [18:30] - Casually done, it's longer than usual [1:27], and benefits from the last variation as it sounds like its more serious cousin, or maybe grown up perspective.
Variation 21 [20:57] - This is my favourite variation on this listen, truly beautiful, lovely ringing and trills galore, the right hand adds a nice backdrop, sounds like a fountain bursting forth its sparkling water.
Variation 22 [21:59] - And right after there's what i call the 'musical box' variation, and 21 & 22 are such superb companions, it's with this variation i feel there's a sort of coda-ish feel, as if Brahms is bringing the work to a close, you get the same feeling towards the end of Bach's Goldberg Variations.
Variation 23 [23:06] - And the last three variations give a whirlwind virtuosity before the Fugue kicks in, a nice stamping variation, blocks of notes.
Variation 25 [24:17] - The final variation has well... a certain finality to it!, one last shout of exclamation, one last showing off, loads of notes, a pure indulgence of virtuosity.
Here's Seta Tanyel playing the Handel Variations on YouTube, the timings above refer to this video.
Seta Tanyel is Armenian / Turkish, not sure her age, and this was recorded in 1989, the front cover picture is very nice, with Tanyel sitting at the piano, nicely lighted with a dark background.
A tremendous number of these variations really excited me, and i guess this is one of the points of variations [and not just for variety!], but that each variation will give a different angle to the theme, so a couple of dozen different viewpoints actually causes us to get deeper into the essence of the theme, rather like 25 people all giving their personal experience about a person, you really get to know what they're like, plus each variation takes you on a journey, and each subsequent variation adds / substantiates that journey, they build on each other, rather like a relay race where each runner passes the baton to the next, the Variations i liked the best were 8, 11-12, 14-15, 18-19, 21-23 & 25, they seem to come in clumps, certain variations prepare you for the next, so for instance variation 15 has as an 'intro' variation 14, the same can apply to 'outro' also, two variations side by side can be greater than the sum of their parts, here's a short synopsis of each variation,
Variation 8 [7:52] - A fairly complex Variation, almost like a Fugue, nicely sped up compared to the previous variation, a fairly frantic 39 seconds.
Variation 11 [10:39] - I love these more gentle variations, where lovely ringing sounds permeate the air, the second half of the variation has the left hand taking over the melody.
Variation 12 [11:47] - And straight afterwards a complementary variation that builds on the last, nice treble / legato work from Tanyel in the right hand.
Variation 14 [14:48] - A real scamper of a variation, playfully squealing away, the treble work is nicely executed.
Variation 15 [15:27] - A more serious and hard hitting variation, with some hard exclamation points throughout in the bass, and then in the second half those exclamations continue high in the right hand.
Variation 18 [17:32] - Another gentle and slower variations, sweetly and casually done, superb treble notes, like stars twinkling in the sky, i like the way Tanyel gradually slows it down at the end, giving it more of a tease / gravitas.
Variation 19 [18:30] - Casually done, it's longer than usual [1:27], and benefits from the last variation as it sounds like its more serious cousin, or maybe grown up perspective.
Variation 21 [20:57] - This is my favourite variation on this listen, truly beautiful, lovely ringing and trills galore, the right hand adds a nice backdrop, sounds like a fountain bursting forth its sparkling water.
Variation 22 [21:59] - And right after there's what i call the 'musical box' variation, and 21 & 22 are such superb companions, it's with this variation i feel there's a sort of coda-ish feel, as if Brahms is bringing the work to a close, you get the same feeling towards the end of Bach's Goldberg Variations.
Variation 23 [23:06] - And the last three variations give a whirlwind virtuosity before the Fugue kicks in, a nice stamping variation, blocks of notes.
Variation 25 [24:17] - The final variation has well... a certain finality to it!, one last shout of exclamation, one last showing off, loads of notes, a pure indulgence of virtuosity.
Here's Seta Tanyel playing the Handel Variations on YouTube, the timings above refer to this video.
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